Various materials have been used as liners for automotive interiors, but there is an increasing demand for liner materials which can be readily installed and have high sound absorption ability. Materials such as fiberglass and hardboard have been used as headliners, but headliners made of these materials are relatively heavy and difficult to install. Recently, thermoformable headliners made of a plastic foam, such as styrene-maleic anhydride resin foam, have been developed. Such headliners represent an improvement but do not have sufficient sound-absorbing ability.
A variety of composite articles wherein a fabric layer is superposed on a synthetic resin foam layer are known, but such articles are typically used for other purposes. For example, Martel U.S. Pat. No. 3,876,491 discloses a synthetic suede product formed of a thermoplastic foam adhered to a fibrous substrate, wherein the foam is treated to have the surface characteristics of natural suede. Smith U.S. Pat. No. 3,546,832 discloses a precast decorative panel wherein a core comprising a cured mixture of a thermoset resin and aggregates is formed in contact with an open mesh, such as a mat of glass fibers. Weissenfels U.S. Pat. No. 3,915,772 discloses sheets or slabs of phenolic resin foam having a covering material adhered to at least one side thereof, which covering material is a fiber-containing material which is impregnated into at least one side of the foam. Such slabs having a covering material thereon are used for outside insulation. The covering material of Weissenfels may further be impregnated with a liquid comprising a phenol-aldehyde condensate, a polyamide, a butadiene polymer, or a polyvinylacetal. Similarly, Moss U.S. Pat. No. 3,968,300 discloses a building panel comprising a facing sheet made of materials such as kraft paper, aluminum, asphalt and impregnated felts, which facing sheet is superposed on a cellular material made of a phenolic resin. Westfall U.S. Pat. No. 4,056,646 discloses a pliable, fiber-reinforced, flocked latex sheet comprising a fibrous sheet or scrim base material, a foamed latex and a flocking, suitable for use as a clothlike material. The foregoing patents indicate that the properties of a composite article including one or more fabric layers superposed on a foam core vary widely depending on the particular materials selected for the foam core. Such composite articles can be thick and of high rigidity and hence useful as building materials, or can be thin, flexible, and soft, and thus useful as cloth substitutes.
A large number of fabrics useful as coverings for core materials are known. LePoutre U.S. Pat. No. 4,053,670 discloses non-woven fabrics made by impregnating a web of non-woven fibers with a chemical binder capable of thermal polymerization, the binder serving to increase the mechanical strength of the fabric. In a different context, Birmingham U.S. Pat. No. 2,343,740 discloses a fibrous sheet impregnated with a binder which is superposed on the surface of a wood panel in order to mask imperfections in the wood. The foregoing patents demonstrate typical known uses for resin impregnated fabrics, particularly non-woven fabrics.